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Palais de la Concorde
The Palais de la Concorde is the building in the city of Paris on Earth that serves as the seat of government of the United Federation of Planets. ( , ) Description The Palais is a large, cylindrical, fifteen-story building. It is located on the Place de la Concorde and is elevated above the Champs Elysées, which it straddles, supported by four duranium beams at each corner that lead to the basement levels. ( ) The first floor of the Palais features the Federation Council Chambers of the Federation Council, wherein the legislature meets for both full and sub-council sessions. The council chambers are rectangular; towards the south wall is the podium, typically used by the Federation President, or by another Councillor, when presiding over a Council session. The podium is emblazoned with the Great Seal of the United Federation of Planets, and the Federation flag hangs on a pole behind it. On the south wall is a view screen used for a variety of purposes, most commonly for tabulating votes during a session. The east and west walls feature matching rows of twenty seats each, with four rows on each side. (When the number of Councillors exceeds the number of seats, two new rows of twenty seats each are installed on either side.) The center of the room is the area in which those acknowledged by the podium are allowed to address the Council or sub-council -- the speaker's floor. The northern side of the chambers features the gallery, an area of seating where spectators may observe full sessions of the Council; the galley is closed during classified sessions. ( ) The second floor features the offices of the Palais de la Concorde Press Liaison and staff, and includes the holographic briefing room in which the liaison remotely addresses press from throughout the Federation. Floor Two also features a secondary transporter bay. ( ) The third floor features the offices of the Palais legal counsel. The fourth through eleventh floors feature the offices of the Federation Councillors and their staffs. Floor Twelve is taken up entirely by the Roth Dining Room and its support facilities. The Roth Dining Room is used at many state dinners, such as the one held in 2380 to welcome the first Trinni/ek delegation to the Federation. Floors Thirteen through Fifteen feature the President's staff, with Thirteen featuring the offices of the speechwriting department. The Presidential Chief of Staff's office is on Fourteen, as are the offices of the Cabinet members. Deputy Chiefs of Staff and their staffs are housed in the interior of Fourteen, while the Chief and Cabinet have offices along the exterior walls. Fifteen features the Presidential Office, as well as the Ra-ghoratreii Room and Wescott Room, a small transporter room, and a waiting room for the president's secretary. (Under the Amitra and Jaresh-Inyo Administrations, the Ra-ghoratreii room was used as the presidential office before Min Zife moved back into the primary office room on Fifteen.) The Presidential Office is heavily shielded, as are the Council Chambers, to prevent breaches in security such as abductions. The Palais also features three basement levels, all heavily shielded. The basement levels, especially the Palais de la Concorde Monet Room, are where the president, the presidential staff, and the members of the Federation Security Council and other authorized Federation Councillors and personnel meet to discuss issues of Federation defense and security and to organize Starfleet operations. ( ) Background thumb|left|Federation Supreme Headquarters from the UK comic strips. The President's office was shown in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and later a different office was in use in "Homefront" and " " during season four of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The matte painting used in both instances imply the use of an office located in the Trocadéro section of Paris. In Swordhunt, part of the Rihannsu novels by Diane Duane, the building that houses the President's office is refered to as the "'troisieme Empire' edifice." This building is described as being located in the Trocadero. As noted on the TrekBBS by author Christopher L. Bennett, the term "troisieme Empire" would not be the building's name but would refer to the historical/architectural period in which the edifice was built - in this case a future period in French history called the Third Empire (with the First being Napoleon's and the Second being Napoleon III's). This perhaps gives us some insight into the architectural style of the Palais if we accept the notion that, location discrepancies aside, Duane's edifice and the Palais are the same building. The Federation Council Chambers were seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, with the film strongly implying that the Council had been meeting in San Francisco. Furthermore, In a Mirror, Darkly established that the Federation Council met in San Francisco as of 2161. The Palais de la Concorde is pronounced as follows: pah-LAY de la con-CORD. The Star Trek comic strips which ran in the United Kingdom featured a building described as the Supreme Headquarters of the Space Federation. Its design, above, is somewhat similar to that of the Palais. The Palais may be seen as a counterpart to many other real-life , including the White House, , the , , and the . Sources * novel: Articles of the Federation * ''TNG'' A Time to... novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace by Keith R.A. DeCandido * TNG A Time to... novels: A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal by David Mack.' External link on Wikipedia Connections Category:Political institutions Category:Earth landmarks Category:Federation government